A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Applied Materials Operations Center at Changi North Industrial Park in Singapore took place earlier today, and saw the attendance of several Applied Materials executives, including Mike Splinter (pictured), company President and CEO. Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board Lim Siong Guan and U.S. Ambassador Patricia Herbold were also present for the ceremony.

According to the latest figures released by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide sales of semiconductors in May reached $21.8 billion, 7.5 percent higher than the $20.3 billion reported for the same month a year ago. May sales were 2.8 percent higher than the $21.2 billion reported for April 2008. May is traditionally a stronger month than previous months in the calendar year, according to the SIA. 

A joint venture between STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductor was confirmed yesterday and will be known as ST-NXP Wireless. The JV company combines the mobile and wireless businesses of the two companies and will target operations at the 2G, 2.5G, 3G, multimedia connectivity and wireless technologies. The JV agreement will be completed in the third quarter of 2008. 

Soon after the failed attempt by rival AMHS start-up firm Aquest Systems and The Gores Group in their bid to take over Asyst Technologies, the company has said that it has received notice from Riley Investment Partners Master Fund L.P., of its intention to nominate six directors with the goal of selling the company if successful at Asyst’s annual shareholders meeting. 

Credence and LTX have announced plans to combine operations in a tax-free, all-stock merger. Credence shareholders will own 50.02 percent of the outstanding shares of the combined company and LTX shareholders will own 49.98 percent. 

As expected, the SEMI book-to-bill ratio continued its decline in May, reporting a book-to-bill ration of 0.79, compared to a book-to-bill ratio of 0.82 in April, a final adjustment up from 0.81 originally reported. Equipment orders came in at $1.03 billion in May down from $1.09 billion in April, adjusted upwards from $1.07. 

According to the latest worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings from SEMI, first quarter 2008 figures reached $10.56 billion, seven percent greater than the fourth quarter of 2007 and two percent less than the first quarter of 2007. 

Chartered Semiconductor has made an investment in Taiwan-based SOCLE Technology Corporation, known for its system-on-chip (SoC) design services using ARM cores and developing ARM-based platforms. Financial terms of the investment were not announced. 

Freescale has said that its MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) technology, manufacturing and IP have been transferred to a new company, EverSpin Technologies, backed by a group of venture firms. Freescale will hold a share in the company but has not revealed its actual stake. The move was touted by Freescale as the best way forward to see a faster adoption of the technology in the multiple markets to which the technology could be applied.